NA committee stands firm on telecom dues

No concessions on Rs78b dues from LDI companies, lawmakers urge faster IT development, tackling Starlink, fiberisation

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ISLAMABAD:

The Parliamentary Panel on Tuesday agreed not to grant any concessions to Long Distance and International (LDI) license companies in the recovery of Rs78 billion in dues. It also resolved to activate the Telecom Tribunal to expedite the matter.

Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) Chairman, Major General (Retd) Hafeezur Rehman, informed the committee that in the past six years, Rs1,700 billion had been deposited into the national treasury from telecom companies in the form of taxes, yet not a single rupee had been spent by the government to improve the country's network infrastructure.

The National Assembly's Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunications, which met on Tuesday, expressed its displeasure over the delay in necessary steps for digitisation, the launch of services by Starlink and Chinese companies, and the slow pace of projects related to IT park construction.

Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on IT & Telecom, Syed Aminul Haq, also voiced concerns over the non-utilisation of Rs6 billion allocated for the Karachi IT Park project in the current financial year, the delay in the Personal Data Protection Bill, and the pending Artificial Intelligence Policy.

The 11th meeting of the Standing Committee on IT and Telecom was attended by Syed Mustafa Kamal, Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Ahmed Atiq Anwar, Umair Khan Niazi, Rumeena Khursheed Alam, Dr Mahesh Kumar, Adil Khan Bazai, Mukhtar Ahmed Malik, Parliamentary Secretary for IT Sabeen Ghauri, Secretary IT Zarar Hashim Khan, Special Secretary Azfar Manzoor, Member Telecom Jahanzeb Rahim, Chairman PTA Major General (Retd) Hafeezur Rehman, CEO Universal Service Fund (USF) Chaudhry Mudassar Naveed, and CEO Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) Abu Bakar.

Joint Secretary Saima Ahad briefed the meeting on progress in public sector development programmes (PSDP) under the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication (MoIT&T) and its affiliated institutions. She stated that Rs24 billion had been allocated for this purpose in the current financial year.

Committee members raised concerns over broadband services provided by the Special Communication Organisation (SCO) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). Syed Aminul Haq directed the MoIT&T to expedite improvements in broadband services in AJK and G-B, finalise the fiberisation policy, propose government funding for USF, resolve matters related to Starlink, and establish the Telecom Tribunal, with a report to be submitted to the committee.

On members' suggestions, Haq instructed the MoIT&T to submit proposals for separate federal government grants to the Universal Service Fund, which receives 1.5% of telecom companies' revenue, so the matter could be raised with the prime minister.

Haq emphasised that telecom companies focus their investments in urban areas, but government grants for USF are essential for expanding broadband services and laying optical fibre cables in remote and underdeveloped regions. With sufficient funding, broadband services and fiberisation across the country can progress quickly, benefiting the public and advancing the government's digitisation goals, while also facilitating IT export targets.

"These steps are necessary to connect with the digital world and keep pace with technological advancements," he added.